Altworld Universe
The '''Altworld Universe '''is the setting for a rebooted ''Bionicle ''saga as imagined by BenjaminDJ. The reboot plans to follow a similar yet distinct storyline to that of Generation 1. One of this reboot's most distinguishing features is the new world the story is set in, an alternative Aqua Magna, based on what could have been according to Christian Faber's early concept art for Bionicle. Background Information I've always loved Bionicle G1, especially the early years, ie 2001-2003. Mata Nui as a setting was what separated Bionicle from any other fantasy franchise, at least when it was combined with the nature of the Bionicle as species: kinda-sorta robots living as primitive tribes-people, that use magic and elemental abilities to fight off evil. Whilst the change in setting did't bother me all that much in later years (until Bara Magna that is; Bionicle is and always will be a story set in the Matoran Universe, to me at least), what did bother me was the gradual disappearance of the Matoran's primitive islander-ness, so to speak. However, this didn't really bother me either as it was in these later years that the lore and depth of the Bionicle franchise really sold me on the story rather than just the sets. As I got older I taught myself more and more about the Bionicle world, and the same thing kept bugging me: the "geography" of the Matoran Universe. Quite frankly, it's not great. The universe map published in "Makuta's Guide to the Universe" is very unnatural and to be honest the Domes system inside the GSR doesn't make sense when you analyse it in context with the history of the world. I'm probably not explaining my point very well, but here's an example: How are we supposed to believe that the island of Artakha, or at least its location, has just been forgotten by the inhabitants of the world? Artakha is in the GSR's right shoulder, and it's a very large landmass! You couldn't just reach the Western Island Chain without happening upon Artakha. To satisfy my own minor nitpicks with the G1 Bionicle world and to join in with everyone else and their alternate universes, I have come up with my own: the "Altworld" universe, named this way because of an idea I had after digging into Christian Faber's concept art dump and finding these beauties: These images gave me an idea for an Aqua Magna populated with many islands, rather than just Mata Nui and Voya Nui. These islands would be whichever ones were needed from the original Matoran Universe, such as Xia, Destral, Odina, Daxia, etc etc. These were going to be spread out more naturally than in the map in MGttU, however still retain the humanoid shape that the GSR is known for. The main issue I faced was what to do with Metru Nui. I knew I needed Mata Nui, that was for certain. I wouldn't be replacing Mata Nui with Metru Nui any time soon, however I wanted both. My solution was to replace one of the little islands dotted around Mata Nui (specifically one in Naho Bay), and replace it with a somewhat changed (shape-wise) Metru Nui. The reason behind changing the shape was so that it didn't look to much like the bigger Mata Nui right next to it. And so this is what I created: a world map, filled with lots of insignificant island chains where Titan-esque stand-alone characters like Axonn, Brutaka or TSO could hail from, and other more significant landmasses where important story acts could take place, ie Mata Nui, Artakha, etc. I have coloured in both the Metrus and Wahis of Metru Nui and Mata Nui for this first map: Now all I had to do was fill it with a rich lore and deep history inspired by and akin to that of G1. No easy feat! History of Altworld's Aqua Magna Pre-Bionicle Age Pre-Great Cataclysm Aqua Magna was not always worthy of this name. For the majority of its existence, this planet has been an ice giant, hiding a vast ocean underneath an incredibly thick layer of ice and snow. Polar peoples lived above this ice layer and ocean peoples lived below. None of these are important however, with the exception of one unique entity: Tren Krom. Tren Krom is the only surviving native being on Aqua Magna. It is capable of surviving almost any environment due to its size-shifting nature and immense intelligence. It is known the previous inhabitants of Aqua Magna were tribal peoples and worshipped Tren Krom as a god living among them. Many carvings in cave walls show the sheer destruction Tren Krom was capable of dishing out, with several picturing the wiping out of entire civilisations. Formation of the Bionicle world The ice world of Aqua Magna was forever lost when hundreds of thousands of years ago, the Great Spirit Robot crash landed on its surface, near the equator. This event is known as the Great Cataclysm to the planet's current inhabitants. The impact wiped out all living things on Aqua Magna with the exception of the adaptable Tren Krom beast, which fled the site towards safer parts of the world. The massive ice caps melted on Aqua Magna, transforming it into a water world, with the exception of several floating glaciers, the last remnants of Aqua Magna's old self. The GSR had been dispatched from a far-away world of unknown characteristics, for colonisation purposes of another world. It never reached this world, as one of its maintenance crew, Velika, became sentient and forced the spacecraft to malfunction, eventually crashing on Aqua Magna. After lying immobile on Aqua Magna for several thousand years, the GSR's timer led itself to believe that it had arrived at its colonial destination, and began the process of terraforming the world around it, artificially creating all the landmasses as seen in the above maps. After a few hundred years of terraforming, the inhabitants of the GSR were released onto the surface of the new Bionicle world. As all of the original colonists had died in the crash, what maintenance species remained evacuated the ship and settled the new lands. The Awakening The inhabitants of the new world remained insentient for an unknown length of time until one day, Velika, the same being that crashed the GSR in the first place, managed to unlock sentience for the rest of the Bionicle species. This event is known as the Awakening to Aqua Magna's new inhabitants, as they cannot find any history of their existence prior to this event. The Awakening is the formal start of the Bionicle Age. Bionicle Age TBA Locations Major locations Metru Nui TBA Mata Nui TBA Voya Nui TBA The Destral Islands TBA The Frontier (Stelt, Xia, Odina, and Zakaz) TBA Minor locations Artakha TBA The Northwestern Chain TBA The Northeastern Chain TBA Daxia TBA Zamor TBA Karzahni TBA The Southern Chains TBA